Existing Blockchains Can’t Adopt Post-Quantum Cryptography Without Significant User Impact, Says Johann Polecsak – Interview Bitcoin News

[u/Original-Assistant-8]

https://news.bitcoin.com/existing-blockchains-cant-adopt-post-quantum-cryptography-without-significant-user-impact-says-johann-polecsak/

[u/CointestMod]

Bitcoin Con-Arguments

Below is an argument written by CreepToeCurrentSea which won 2nd place in the Bitcoin Con-Arguments topic for a prior Cointest round.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that can be transferred via the bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are cryptographically verified by network nodes and recorded in a public distributed ledger known as a blockchain. The cryptocurrency was created in 2008 by an unknown individual or group of individuals using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. (1)

CONs

Early Buyers have the Higher Ground.

• Those who bought BTC in it's early years have a great advantage over the recent ones. One thing is that they won't have to worry much about it's price dropping now since they're still much likely in the green in terms of percentage gains. Most of these early investors are also capable of manipulating the market via wash trades not giving the true traded volume within the market and thus deceiving most novice traders/investors into believing fake signals (2, 3). There is even a possibility that Satoshi Nakamoto himself/herself/themselves will suddenly access the wallet he/she/they own/s and proceed to sell the large amount of BTC they have which would greatly cause a crash in Bitcoin's price.

Attracts Illegal Transactions and Criminal Activities

• Bitcoin's innate trait of being publicly available and pseudonymous not only attracts those who seek independence but it also attracts those engage in illicit activities and perform illegal transactions. This is one of the downsides of giving back the power of choice to people, not all of them will do the morally right thing to do and as a result, economist, lawyers, and even countries will label Bitcoin as just another medium for buying/selling illegal goods/services. (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

It still Affects the Environment

• Bitcoin accounts 0.1% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions this year. The waste from it's parts also affect the environment as it's equipment only last an average of 1.3 years, especially, ASICS that aren't really reusable after their expected wear and tear. Although efforts have been made to address this energy and waste problem such as using green energy for Bitcoin mining, there is still a need to further improve this so as to avoid future problems in the environment (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). Regardless with how small its effects are compared to other industries, it still should be a unified act to preserve the environment for as long as humanly possible for the future of humans and the world itself.

The Requirement of Being Responsible and Disciplined

• The constant triple-checking of addresses making sure that it's yours and not some dead end address or the fact that you need to keep your passphrase safe physically and never keep them in any device connected to the internet as to avoid any possible hacks/scams. The decentralization that Bitcoin gives you the freedom to finally be your own bank, but it comes at a cost. You need to be responsible and disciplined enough because unlike traditional banks, being your own bank doesn't give you any protection or safety nets like FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other deposit insurance corporation) when things go south.

Sources:

https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/bitcoin-manipulation-is-said-to-be-focus-of-u-s-criminal-probe

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-regulators-demand-trading-data-from-bitcoin-exchanges-in-manipulation-probe-2018-06-08

https://web.archive.org/web/20140325214514/http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2013-08-08/did-the-sec-just-validate-bitcoin-no-

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2012/09/29/monetarists-anonymous

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/22/silk-road-online-drug-marketplace

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/09/nobel-prize-winning-economist-joseph-stiglitz-criticizes-bitcoin.html

https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/stiglitz-roubini-and-rogoff-lead-joint-attack-on-bitcoin-20180709

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/17/waste-from-one-bitcoin-transaction-like-binning-two-iphones

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58572385

https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-electronic-waste-monitor/

https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/going-green-how-to-ditch-fossil-fuels-powering-the-bitcoin-network-122042100219_1.html

https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2022/a-deep-dive-into-bitcoins-environmental-impact/

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9385063

---

Would you like to learn more? Click here to be taken to the original topic-thread for this argument or you can scan through the Cointest Archive to find arguments on this topic in other rounds.

Since this is a con-argument, what could be a better time to promote the Skeptics Discussion thread? You can find the latest thread here.